Photos/Review The Damned haunted Warsaw, Brooklyn, NY on 10/30/23

Photo Credit: Mark “Smitty” Neal

On October 30th, The Damned returned to New York City for two nights during a short run of East Coast shows in support of their twelfth studio album Darkadelic which was released back in April of this year. Brooklyn’s Warsaw hosted night one of The Damned’s two nights in New York City. On a dark, damp, and chilly evening in October on the night of All Hallows Eve, a night very fitting for The Damned, a sold-out crowd of fans, some in costumes mimicking frontman Dave Vanian, others simply in the Halloween spirit lined the walls of Warsaw to see the iconic London based punk pioneers.

The New York-based poppy punk band Baby Shakes kicked off the evening. With their gritty sound, catchy melodies, and the band’s energy, they quickly warmed up the already packed crowd of locals. Although the band’s sound is a bit outside of the box compared to The Damned, Baby Shakes’ punk influence shined through to mesh well with the hardcore fans who came out for The Damned.

Baby Shakes

Photo Credit: Mark “Smitty” Neal

Following up after Baby Shakes was a Canadian hardcore punk band based out of Toronto called Fucked Up. Led by the charismatic frontman Damian Abraham, Fucked Up would continue to bring the heat to the stage. Utilizing every tight inch of space on the stage, frontman Damian Abraham put on a show for everyone to enjoy. His screaming and growling of lyrics, along with his stage presence, intertwined with a more indie rock sound of music played for an eclectic mix that kept the crowd on their toes and focused on the band’s performance, which these days seems harder for most opening acts to pull off.

Fucked Up

Photo Credit: Mark “Smitty” Neal

With a very long intermission that felt like forever, it was that moment in time hat the entire crowd had been waiting for, the house lights went down and one of the greatest punk bands of all time The Damned would make their way out onto the stage in front of the sold out crowd in Brooklyn. Lead by the dark and mystique of frontman Dave Vanian, The Damned would immediately set the mood and energy of the night by kicking off their set with a fan favorite, “Street of Dreams,” which would blend well into “The Invisible Man” the opening track off their latest LP’ Darkadelic.’ The band gave fans a show of almost two hours’ worth of music spanning their almost five-decade-long career as one of the most influential punk bands of all time. The 22-song setlist included 11 tracks of the 12 off their latest LP, something most fans probably weren’t expecting; with only six shows on this run in the states, it almost seemed to be something more on the special side, but nonetheless, it didn’t seem to hold back the energy of the fans. Whether it was classics like “Love Song” and “Smash It Up” or newbies such as “Beware of the Clown” and “Motorcycle Man,” Still, The Damned have maintained their top spot in punk music not only as influencers but also as innovators of a style all their own for nearly five decades for a reason, and with a performance of almost two hours they proved that after all this time they’ve still got what it takes to put on an incredible performance and keep everyone in the crowd interested even the most jaded of fans who always will seem to down a band for playing more of their newer material live over the same old songs we’ve heard and seen live for decades. The encore to this amazing performance ended perfectly with their cover of Barry Ryan’s baroque pop song “Eloise” following along with the frantic style of 70’s punk, their widely popular single “New Rose” which in fact put The Damned on the map as their first single. The contrast between the two songs made for quite an encore but sums up The Damned’s musical career and style with perfection. With a somewhat new album and only a brief six-show run on the East Coast in the States, we, the fans, can only hope this will lead to a much larger U.S. run in the near future.

The Damned